INTOXICATE. I'll be honest, I don't know too much about these guys. I've never heard of them before so this is a first for me, and possibly a lot of you reading this, but isn't that what this is all about? Find new good music to listen to?! I couldn't find a lot of information on the band where as their bio on their socials isn't in English. Again small details that stent need to listen and enjoy. They are a Swedish band and from what I can tell, the album in question - "Cross Contamination" is their second. A cool and unique style and brand of thrash. Let's dig in!

The album kicks off with "Caravan Of Hate". No clean tone intro, no weird movie excerpt, just straight to the thrash. It didn't take them long to capture my attention. Powerful thrash riffing Carrie's you to the main verse. The vocals I have to say, definitely caught me off guard. They are truly unique, and I wasn't sure how I felt about them, but some of my favorite bands gave me this same feeling. By the end of "Caravan Of Hate" I was hooked. Everything blends well together and gives them a style that is their own.

Track 2 is the title track, "Cross Contamination". I really enjoyed the guitar work in this song. I'm a sucker for melodic tremolo picked riffs with a melodic interlude to take you to the end of the song. Moving on to track 3, "Inertia", opening with a lone tapping drum and fast and tight palmed intro. What stands out to me most is the lead guitar work. Consisting of 2 technical solos, one half way through and one closing the song, "inertia" is a perfect example of their musical capabilities.

"Crawling Forward"!!! What a powerful intro! Bone crushing palmed triplets with a melodic lead interlude laid over top like a warm blanket! This is the fourth track on the album and probably my favorite. The creativity behind the song writing speaks for itself. The solos and various leads found throughout are sublime and take you by surprise. Which makes it no surprise that the rest of the album follows suit.

The last song I want to talk about is the final song on the album, "Posthumous Posthuman". This song just took the place of "Crawling Forward" as my favorite track. Do I dare say it? More killer riffs! Really starting to sound like a broken record. Honestly if you really want to k ow why I loved this song, and this album so much you really just need to check it out. They have a style of thrash that I can say I've never heard before.  In an industry saturated with content from millions of bands around the world, INTOXICATE has a sound and style that is their own and I can't wait to hear more. Best of luck to the band in all of their future endeavors.